Mark of Death
by North of the North
Summary: The reason that Harry survived the killing curse is due to Death (Thanatos's) promise to always be the one to take the youngest Peverell brother's descendants. By marking them as his rather than Keres (another Death goddess), the killing curse and other violent means of killing cannot be used against the Potters.


**Mark of Death**

 **27 Jan 19**

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 **Summary: The reason that Harry survived the killing curse is due to Death (Thanatos's) promise to always be the one to take the youngest Peverell brother's descendants. By marking them as his rather than Keres, the killing curse and other violent means of killing cannot be used against the Potters.**

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When Thanatos, or Death as he was also known, had befriended the youngest Peverell brother after the older siblings had died and promised that he would make sure he was the only God or Goddess of Death that would touch his lineage…he hadn't quite counted on just how troublesome the entire line of Peverells then Potters would become.

Nor had he quite anticipated the raging headache that one Harry Potter would turn out to be for him so many generations down the line.

He really should have put a limit on how many generations he would protect…

But now, well what was done was done and he had never once broken a promise.

So it was that when Lord Voldemort had gone up to the Potter household and "murdered" James Potter, he became the first person in the world to survive the killing curse when Thanatos put him instead under a Death Sleep, to awaken by his magic later after the wizard that had come to kill those he protected was gone.

Then that same dark wizard had the nerve to go over the other Potter he protected, and Harry James Potter became the first person to survive the killing curse, as far as the wizarding rule knew.

Thanatos had unfortunately been a bit preoccupied wondering if he should save the woman to whom James Potter had married or if he should only concern himself with the son (as he was the actual descendent of his Peverell friend and truly he'd never promised his protection to those whom his Peverell's descendants married after all) and he was also a tad bit distracted by his absolute utter rage at this little whelp of a dark wizard that dared to sully the name of Death with his ludicrous self-given title of Lord Voldemort and that had tried to kill those under his protection.

Really, Keres was having far too much fun possessing this little being, and she should really have known better than to go anywhere near those whom he'd told her centuries ago he would always protect.

So it was no trouble of his that in his distraction to kill the little play toy of his sisters that he…well, forgot to put the Sleep Death on the little boy he protected. Instead, he had turned his attention to directing the killing curse to bounce back to hit the dark wizard instead of absorbing the energy of the killing curse.

So perhaps Harry James Potter was a thorn in his side as he hadn't quite counted on how fast people would show up and so hadn't had the time to grab the little spirit his Keres had been manipulating, even as he saw a shard of it embed itself in the boy he protected. He just hadn't had the time as it was then as he went to stop it from burrowing in to his little Potters mind and attached itself that he felt other wizards approaching and had to rush downstairs to lift his Sleep Death from the elder Potter so he wouldn't be taken for dead and his influence on the outcome of the night deduced by his brethren…should they ever take the time to note affairs on the mortal plane and take offence at his protection of his Peverell's descendants. Not that it was likely to happen, but some of his fellows could get rather touchy, even if he had told them all point blank his intentions back when his Peverell had died and come to join him in the Underworld.

Just in time, he had manipulated the memory of the elder Potter into believing that Lord Voldemort hadn't wanted to kill a Pureblood, especially one as distinguished as the Potters were as a Pureblood family, and that he had simply cast a blasting charm his way which hit James Potter against the wall and knocked him unconscious.

Scarcely a second after as the elder Potter's eyes fluttered open, the door burst open again as Severus Snape stood there, and while he'd made a move to rush up the stairs, he'd stopped at the low groan that James Potter had made on awakening and instead went to his side, tipping a healing potion he'd grabbed from his bag after casting a diagnostic charm and finding the injury Thanatos had made sure to leave there to back up the memory story he'd given the elder Potter.

James sat upright. "Lily!" He called out. Then his eyes focused on Snape's and both looked at each other in dawning horror, though Severus as always hid his emotions as swiftly as they'd shown themselves, before James hoisted himself to his feet. Already heading up the stairs, he called back, "I told her to run with Harry! I saw her go this way before You-Know-Who got here!"

Snape had already known, even before the cries of sorrow started from the blasted apart nursery, that he'd come too late to help his friends. So he came up more slowly and prepared himself to meet the death of his first friend head-on.

What neither had truly been expecting though was the infant that was alive in the room, nor the cloak, the wand, and the memory of what had happened in the room when James called on the house's baby-monitoring spells to show the memory of the room.

It took several runs of watching the Avada Kedavra cast at his son only for it to rebound and hit The Dark Lord before James Potter shakily cast the Patronus charm and, trembling, asked it to go get Dumbledore.

Not even an hour later, Sirus Black`s motorcycle touched down after coming as fast as he could from the estate given to him by his uncle after he`d felt the wards he`d helped build break and had come as fast as he could without an international portkey handy and the Potter floo closed off to everyone. He had waded inside, his wand ready to attack any Deatheaters remaining, only to drop the stance as he saw only the magical signatures of his best friend, Lily`s friend, and his godson inside. A call down the stairs of, "Sirius?" was all the encouragement he needed to take the steps two at a time to join his blood-brother and godson upstairs. And he hadn't needed any encouragement at all with his blood boiling in rage as it was to make an Unbreakable Vow with Snape as his Keeper, even as James protested the idea of more killing, that he would murder Peter Pettigrew.

Then Dumbledore joined them, and Thantos faded from the scene.

His magic and the Fates would tell him the next time the last of the Potters were threatened. Hopefully, it wouldn't be for a few generations. Briefly, he considered the matter of the soul shard he hadn't been able to stop from latching on to the younger Potter, but dismissed it as a matter no longer under his control. The child's magic, and what looked like the mother's too, had already wrapped around and encased it. The soul shard wasn't going to harm the child, and it would be more an experiment than anything trying to get it out. In other words, it wasn't going to kill the younger Potter and as far as he could tell, the problem had been dealt with when it was contained. Unless it acted up later on to try and threaten the life of the Potter, then he wouldn't concern himself with it.

For now, it was time to get back to his actual job. And also maybe go give Keres a piece of his mind for sending her minion after the descendants of his Peverell friend when he had clearly told her they were all off limits no matter what.

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Inspiration **: The following Tumblr post about Gods and Goddesses...**

 **post/173612171783/what-are-the-differences-between-hades-and**

 **going-nowhere-fast said: What are the differences between Hades and Thanatos from a worship perspective? Like, do they have different jobs? Do they like different things? Can they assist with different aspects of my magick? (Your blog is amazing I love it so much.)**

 **death-witch-envy:**

Awww **thank you!**

 **Hades is the Lord of the Underworld. He manages the land of the dead, souls' judgement, and houses souls in the afterlife. He's also the God of all the gems and metals** underground, **and has associations with the seasons as well (due to Persephone). He is the God of riches, prosperity, fertility, earth, and the dead. Worship for Hades can take many forms to accommodate this.**

 **Thanatos is the God of death, specifically. His role is to cause death, and in some stories, bring souls into the Underworld. He is also associated with sleep due to His twin brother Hypnos. He later became synonymous with** peaceful **death, as Keres is the personification of violent death. Those who worship Thanatos work more directly with Death itself, in a grim reaper kind of way. He doesn't have the connection to judgement or riches like Hades does, although** in **terms of death work, there's definitely a lot of overlap in Their worship.**

 **Does this answer your question? Thanks for being so kind and engaging!**

 **(￣▽￣)ノ**

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 **Yesssss I finally typed this up. One out of many of the backlogged stories I wanted to get typed up so I could get back to making up chapter updates for other stories. Oh yeah, btw, I have had the 2nd** chpt **of Tempestuous written down (it's still not typed up) since the end of November. *sweats* I'm a bad author to leave those of you following that story in** suspence **, I** knowwwww **I'm** sorrryyy **!**

 **Anywho,**

 **Cheers!**

 **Please review to tell me you're interested!**

 **Questions: What do you think Thanatos will do with the soul shard in Harry later when it starts to cause him pain? Will he ignore the small pains in 1st year and only care come 5th year? What will Keres have to say on his words to her?**

 **Also, I don't like Snape as a character and so am purposefully writing him out of character to make him a better person. So, yeah, he will not be all rage at James Potter and hating on every single child that doesn't wear green in his presence because I do not even want to write a story with such a terrible teacher-figure in it. He will instead perhaps say somewhat similar things but in a sarcastic and slightly joking manner that doesn't make him become a child's worst fear.**


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